UP minister let off with reprimand in bounty case

Lucknow, Feb 26 (UNI) Uttar Pradesh assembly speaker Mata Prasad Pandey today let off Minister of State for Minority Welfare in the Mulayam Singh Yadav government, Haji Yakub Qureshi with a reprimand for announcing a bounty on the head of Danish cartoonist, who had lampooned Prophet Mohammed.

In a judgement issued today, the speaker said the minister should not have made an emotional outburst in a public meeting.

He, however, observed that by declaring a bounty of Rs 51 crore on the head of the Danish cartoonist, the minister has perhaps attracted provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The issue was raised in the house by Suresh Kumar Khanna (BJP) on February 28, 2006, seeking a decision from the speaker under the assembly rules.

He had claimed while the state government talked of protecting democracy, one of its ministers was making statements against the basic principles of the Indian Constitution.

Mr Khanna had claimed since assembly session was on, the minister could not spoken on such a issue outside the house.

In his ruling today, the speaker said the minister had not made any policy announcement.

On February 17, 2006, Yakub Qureshi, while addresing a public meeting had announced Rs 51 crore for anyone, who brought the head of Denmark-based cartoonist, who had lampooned Prophet Mohammed in his cartoons. He said the person would also be weighed in gold.

The issue had created a lot of furore then.

UNI